Maid Mione
by justaclassicgirl
Summary: [ALL MY UNCOMPLETED STORIES ARE ON HIATUS, GO TO MY PROFILE TO FIND OUT MORE.] [PLEASE READ THE UPDATE CHAPTER. ] A Harry Potter adaptation of the Brothers Grimm tale "Maid Maleen", written for the Grimm Challenge as posted by chacus.amacus.killer.
1. Prologue

Hi all! So this is a multichap I'm starting. It's for the Grimm Challenge as posted by chacus . amacus . killer. We were each given one fairytale from 211 of the Brothers Grimm fairytales, and had to write a Harry Potter story based on it. Mine was Maid Maleen (Look it up if you've never heard of it. It's good).

So begins the Prologue of this story. The chapters are going to be very short, I'm sorry to say.

~justaclassicgirl

* * *

Prologue

"Marry me."

"W-what?"

"Marry me! Look, we might not live through this battle. I want you to marry me now, so that at least I can die knowing that I was married to you."

She sighed, but her chocolate brown eyes shone with happiness. "You won't die," she said, but her voice wavered slightly. "Besides, we're only eighteen, or at least I am. You're seventeen, even younger than me!"

"It doesn't matter!" he pleaded. "Please! McGonnagall will officiate it, I know she will! And I can't dream of having anyone but you. Come on, Mione, just say yes."

Finally, she nodded, smiling widely. "Yes, I'll marry you." And with that, she took his hand and they began running down the corridor amidst the fighting and screaming and flashes of spells to where they'd last seen McGonnagall.

* * *

"Please, Professor, Hermione and I really love each other, and this might be our last chance to do this," he begged.

The professor sighed deeply, looking older than ever at that moment.

"Listen, you two, I don't think this is a good idea. You're too young for this."

"No, Professor, we're not! We could die today!" Hermione tried. "At least give us this!"

"Well, I suppose I can't stop you, now can I?" she said. "But first, Miss Granger must come with me so we can carry out the proper rituals. Nothing fancy, but they must be done for this to be official." She took Hermione by the arm. "Come along now."

And she walked back down the way they came, Hermione smiling back at her beloved and saying "I'll be back soon, don't go anywhere!" before following the professor.

* * *

"Right this way, Miss Granger," McGonnagall said, gesturing to the large door of the Room of Requirement. "The things we need for the ceremony are in here."

Hermione went inside all smiles, but her happy face soon faded as she realized the contents of the room: A bed, plenty of clean clothes, and enough food to last for years. No windows.

She spun around. "Professor, what is this?"

"I'm sorry, Hermione, but this just isn't possible. One of you was likely to die tonight, and I knew it would just break his heart if it was you. And we can't have you marrying now, when you're still teenagers! I'm sorry, Hermione, I truly am, but it's what has to be done!"

"No," she whispered. "No! He's waiting for me! What will you tell him?"

"Why, that you got cold feet, of course! What else can I say?"

"But...you'll break his heart anyway! And what about MINE?"

"If he is to defeat the Dark Lord, Hermione, things like love can't be in the way to distract him. I'm very sorry."

And with that, she closed the door to the Room of Requirement and whispered to it, "Do not let her out until seven years have passed," ignoring Hermione's wails of "NO!" from within.

Then, Professor Minerva McGonnagall rushed down the corridor, her robes swishing, anger, guilt, and sorrow filling her mind at what she'd just done.


	2. Seven Years

I put the Mirror of Erised in here, but never mentioned it by name. THe interaction using the mirror is like what happened to Harry with the sorcerer's stone.

~justaclassicgirl

* * *

Hermione tried everything to get out of the Room of Requirement, but it wouldn't let her out. All she could do was sit there and wait and wish that she was with Harry.

That wasn't to say that it was entirely unpleasant in there either. The room still accommodated to fill her needs, even though it wouldn't let her out. So, if she was in the mood for reading, she could turn it into an enormous library, with books as far as the eye could see.

Every so often, she asked for a mirror, and would look at herself wistfully. She was growing up. She looked much different than how she had looked when she was first locked up. After all, she'd been locked in here for six years already, as she could tell from the calendar on the wall she made sure to mark the days off of every night. She'd gone through six of them. Six birthdays gone uncelebrated. Six Christmases not spent with the family. Six New Years passing by without a thought.

But one day, as she was sitting on her bed reading, the Room of Requirement realized something.

As of today, it had been seven years.

The change was subtle. It was like a soft ripple, but so soft and so small that it was virtually unnoticed by Hermione.

Virtually.

For when that ripple had passed, she had an overwhelming urge to look up from her book.

And what she saw shocked her.

She was still seated on her bed, but the piles of food and clothes and the stack of books she'd picked out were gone. The room was barren and empty.

In the center of it stood a mirror.

Hermione got up slowly, placing her book down on the bed, and advanced cautiously towards it. She looked in...

And burst into tears.

There before her stood Harry, her only love, in all his glory, his arm around her reflection. She whirled around, scarcely believing it to be true, and let out a sob of disappointment when she realized he wasn't really there.

But then, the fake Harry took his hand off her and pointed to something behind her.

Hermione turned again, and saw something sparkle on the floor behind her.

She bent down and picked it up.

It was a little silver key.

She turned back around to look at the mirror. Harry still stood there, but her reflection was no longer standing next to him. He was looking at her sadly, but was pointing to the newly-appeared door of the Room of Requirement.

Hermione blew him a kiss, grabbed the book she'd been reading (as she hated to leave a book unfinished) and hurried to the door. A huge padlock had appeared, tied to the door with a chain. She slipped the tiny silver key inside the great big lock and turned it.


	3. Click

I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far.

~justaclassicgirl

* * *

Click.

The padlock and chain fell, landing on the ground with a clunk, and dissolved into glittering light around Hermione's feet.

Heart pounding, she took the handle of the door and turned it.

Click.

The huge door swung open. She walked out slowly.

Click.

The heels of her shoes against the floors of the corridors made nary a sound. Just a small, soft

Click.

At long last, she reached the courtyard where she knew a majority of the battle had taken place. Oh, how she had longed for fresh air, to feel a soft breeze on her cheek, to hear the rustling of the grass in the wind.

But here, there was nothing of that sort to be found.

The grass was stained red, and was weighed down so much with blood that it could not be moved by even the strongest of winds.

The wind carried nothing but the silent message of death.

The air was stale, even though she was outside, and she could smell the pungent odor of flesh that had been left to rot for exactly seven years.

Hermione's world had come crumbling to the ground, and she hadn't even been there to watch.

She whirled around and looked up at the great castle, and let out a whimper of disbelief.

The place was in ruins.

Somehow, the portion of the building she'd been kept in remained in mostly good quality. But the rest of the school...

Towers no more than piles of rubble.

Roof sections caved in, so deep that they were blocking off entire hallways.

Strong stone support arcs collapsed, and the rest of the rooms around it collapsed with it.

The flags of the Houses no longer flew from the towers of each House, but floated on the wind, now nothing but ash.

The sound of her knees hitting the cobblestone of the courtyard as she wept for all that was lost.

Click.


	4. The Journey

Short chapters. I warned you.

~justaclasscgirl

* * *

At last, Hermione had composed herself, and stood up, the knees of her pants stained with ash and dirt and dried blood. She knew at once she couldn't stay here. She had to leave. Hogwarts was no more, which could mean two things: Light had lost and Dark prevailed, or Light had won, but at such a terrible cost that many good people had died.

Including those who had run Hogwarts.

But where to go, and how?

The mirror had been quite clear: she was to find Harry. But seven years had passed. How could she possibly know where to find him?

All at once, she knew the answer.

If he were anywhere, anywhere at all, the Weasleys would know. So she knew at that moment that she had to head for the Burrow.

It would be a long trip, for the Hogwarts train was not working well enough to take her to King's Cross. So the journey would have to be made entirely on foot. Hermione grimaced at the thought of it, but for Harry, it was worth it.

She pondered what to take for her journey. She would need plenty of food and water, and a book or two wouldn't hurt either. But unfortunately, she didn't have her "Bloody beaded bag", as the boys called it, with her. So she would have to pack light to be able to carry everything and still move at a reasonable pace. She still had her wand, but wasn't very confident on her magic. She hadn't really needed it for the years she was locked up.

So, Hermione trudged back to the Room of Requirement to pack.

When she got there, she found that she had less food there than she'd thought. Enough for a week of travel at the most. She tried to get the room to give her more, but after the whole mirror situation, the room's powers seemed depleted, and it could only give her about a day's worth of food more.

She then tried asking for a bag to hold her things in, but it could not provide anything more, so exhausted was its magic. So she looked worriedly at the meager supply of food she had and the small pile of clothes next to it, before sighing and grabbing the bed sheet off of her bed and wrapping her things in it, tying the sheet into a knot. She cast a spell on it to make it lighter, pleasantly surprised that her magic wasn't failing as much as she thought it had, and found she could lift the bundle much easier. It was like carrying an empty cardboard box.

And with that, Hermione stepped out of the Room of Requirement, leaving it for the last time, and started off on her journey.


	5. Nettles

Sorry for the long wait, folks!

This chapter's a bit weird, I know, but I had to have it circle around the fairy tale it's based off of. (It's called Maid Maleen, if anyone cares to look it up, and you'll see where this chapter is coming from.)

Don't worry about the lack of dialogue, for in the next chapter, Hermione returns to civilization! (FINALLY. *sighs in relief*)

~justaclassicgirl

* * *

Hermione felt the sharp pain of hunger pierce her in the stomach. She let out a little moan, partly from the pain and partly because she knew there was nothing she could do about it.

She had run out of food 2 days ago.

Water, she still had some of. But she was following a river, so water wasn't hard to get, and boiling it to purify it took only a few minutes.

Food, though, was scarce.

She would have hunted, had there been any animals. But, since she started the journey a little over a week ago, she had seen not one moving thing other than the leaves in the trees. It was rather odd.

There was no way of telling how far she had walked. She slept little, wanting to utilize as much time as possible for covering the long distance to the Burrow, and was thoroughly exhausted. Getting by on little to no sleep had been easy when she had food, but now she could barely lift her feet off the ground. At this rate, she would starve to death before even reaching civilization!

Lost in thought, Hermione wasn't watching where she was going, tripped over a tree root, and closed her hand around what she thought was a branch to try and regain her balance.

It wasn't a branch.

She let out a loud yelp at the sharp sting and yanked her hand away from it, brought back to the present.

"Damn it..." she muttered, nursing her injured hand. "What WAS that?"

She bent over to examine the plant more closely, and came to a conclusion.

"This is a nettle," she thought. "Those sting...I think."

Her second thought was:

"Can I eat it?"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a couple lines from an old book she'd read a while ago came back to her.

She couldn't remember what book it had been, but she knew the situation: the heroine was starving, much like her, and had said this upon seeing a nettle:

"Oh nettle-plant,

Little nettle-plant,

What dost thou here alone?

I remember a time

When I ate thee unbroiled,

When I ate thee unroasted."

So...

Did that mean she COULD eat it?

She decided she could, and so stared at the sharp nettles, wondering how to proceed. She didn't want to sting her hands any more, but she was so hungry...so she did the only logical thing.

She drew her wand.

And she set the nettles on fire.

Not burning them to a char, of course, but cooking them a bit. She was trying to smoke the bitterness out of them that she was certain they contained.

Finally, the nettles lay limp, blackish, and relatively harmless in regards to stinging. Hermione grabbed greedily at them and ate ravenously. They weren't half bad! Although they tasted quite tart, they had a sweet, almost milky, aftertaste.

After eating her fill of cooked nettle, she washed it down with water from her pack and gathered up the charred nettles she had yet to eat. She placed these in the small front pocket of her bag for later. Finally nourished, she let out a blissful sigh and set out once more, her spirit and determination revived. She walked briskly, and in her mind pounded one thought, over and over again:

"I'm coming, Harry."


	6. King's Cross

Sorry for the long wait, folks! I've recently made the decision to try my hand at writing some New Girl fanfiction, as the recent episodes are making me squee far too much and I need an outlet to express my mad desire for fluff. (Those of you who watch the show will understand.) So that's what's been taking up my time.

Sorry!

But I did write this.

Next chapter will probably contain dialogue, and will most likely be longer. (I know I said this one would have dialogue, but...it doesn't. Oops. But she's arriving at the Burrow in the next chapter, so there will CERTAINLY be dialogue in that one.)

~justaclassicgirl

* * *

Hermione stood before the platform, breathing heavily. She was finally here. Leg one of her journey had come to an end.

The whole time, she'd followed the Hogwarts Express train tracks, knowing it would lead her there. And now, here she finally stood.

After weeks of eating nothing but charred nettles and water and other wild plants, after what Hermione would say was maybe one to two months of traveling, she had reached King's Cross Station at last.

She looked down at her clothes and realized that she couldn't walk through the barrier looking like this. So with a quick "Scroungify!" she was presentable to society again.

Hermione walked over to the barrier, and took a deep breath.

And she walked through the barrier, coming out on the other side of King's Cross.

It had been years since she'd heard anyone's voice but her own, so she had quite a shock when she was pushed into the thick of the clamor and smoke and PEOPLE.

People.

So

Many

People.

Hermione felt like curling in a ball and crying, so sudden was the noise. After YEARS of solitude, one can understand why she felt this way. But she knew she had to dismiss those thoughts, if she were ever to get herself to the Burrow.

'Get a grip, Hermione,' she chided herself. 'There were more people at Hogwarts on a regular basis than this!'

And she straightened up, and proceeded to walk straight out of King's Cross against the flow of people.

When she emerged into the bustling streets of London, she grinned. Nowhere was the old reaction she had back at the station. She was back in London! Out of Hogwarts! Back in beautiful, glorious CIVILIZATION!

But soon, her elation faded and her practical thinking returned as she tried to formulate a plan of action.

She needed to catch a cab, as she knew the buses didn't run out as far as the Burrow, and managed to flag one down quite easily. But when she opened her mouth to tell the cabbie where to take her, her voice came out as a croak, so out of practice it was. She had to clear her throat several times before he could understand her.

As the cab pulled away from the curb, Hermione leaned her head against the glass of the window. It had been many long years, but with every second that passed she could feel herself getting closer to Harry. Her long-lost love.

Hermione felt sleep slowly overtake her, and she slipped into the world of dreams as the cab drove onward towards the Burrow.


	7. The Burrow

"Miss, Miss, wake up. We've arrived here, wherever here is."

Hermione blinked her eyes open sleepily.

"That'll be twenty pounds, Miss," said the cabbie. "We've come quite a long way from King's Cross."

Hermione opened her rucksack and rummaged around groggily for the money. She paid the cabbie, then swung the sack over her shoulder and pushed open the door, stepping out of the cab.

The cab drove away, and Hermione was left standing in front of the rickety Burrow.

She steeled her nerves, and walked briskly towards the front door.

* * *

Molly Weasley was finally sitting down.

She had been cleaning all day, and was now getting a much-awaited rest.

Molly picked up that day's edition of "The Daily Prophet" and leaned back in the soft armchair to read it. She beamed at the picture of Harry on the front, ever so proud of her adoptive son. Finally, he was-

A knock on the door startled her out of her peace.

Muttering obscenities under her breath, Molly trudged to the front door, wiping her hands on her apron out of habit even though there was nothing on them to wipe off. She turned the knob...

And screamed.

* * *

"HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER!" Molly screeched, throwing her arms around the skinny brown-haired girl.

"Hello, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione managed to squeak out from within the depths of the red-haired woman's arms. "It's nice to see you too."

Mrs. Weasley pulled away and wiped at the tears that had begun to fall. "Everyone thought you were dead, Hermione! You've been gone for 7 years! Oh, my darling, how we've missed you!"

Hermione could think of nothing to say except "I've missed you too."

"Where were you, dear? Where did you disappear to for so long?" Molly enquired. But she didn't get an answer, for just then Hermione's stomach growled loudly. Hermione seemed indifferent to it, for by now she was used to being hungry. But Molly looked at her, a horrified expression on her face.

"Dear me, Hermione, you're skinny as a twig! Have you been eating?"

"Oh, well, a few nettles here and there, some water..." she trailed off, blushing at Molly's intense gaze. "I'm not that hungry, really-"

"NETTLES?" Molly screeched. "That's ALL?"

Hermione nodded meekly.

Molly grabbed Hermione by the arm and began to pull her to the kitchen. "Come now, we've got to get some food into you."

* * *

Molly had made food for dinner ahead of time, so she was able to give Hermione a good assortment of food that could be easily warmed up with a wave of her wand. Hermione had quite forgotten what real food tasted like, and sighed blissfully with each heavenly bite.

When Hermione had finally eaten her fill, Molly suggested that they sit down for a bit, and Hermione could tell her story. So they made their way over to the living room, and Hermione promptly collapsed into the couch.

Molly sank back into her armchair, but ignored the issue of "The Daily Prophet" that had intrigued her before and now lay forgotten on the coffee table. "Now, Hermione dear, tell me everything."

And Hermione did.

* * *

Molly was a wonderful audience, gasping and laughing and shouting in all the right places. She asked good questions as well, as the very first thing she asked was "Why couldn't you just apparate here?"

"Well," Hermione had said, "I hadn't needed or used magic for those years I was locked up, so I was out of practice. And I remembered how Ron got splinched on the Horcrux hunt, and I didn't want to risk it." Molly nodded, and permitted Hermione to continue.

Molly didn't even react negatively to hearing about her and Harry's attempted elopement, which was a pleasant surprise. But, as she said, Ron had his eyes on Lavender the entire time. As a matter of fact, she had told Hermione, Lavender and Ron had gotten married and were trying for a child. But anyway, she could hardly believe what Hermione had encountered over the almost 8 years now (wow!) that she had been gone.

"So, I've come back to find Harry, and finish what we started," Hermione ended with a smile. "I hoped you would know where he was, so I came here first...What's wrong?"

When Hermione said she was coming back for Harry, all of the color had drained from Molly's face. A tear began to run down the woman's cheek.

"Oh, Hermione dear, I'm so dreadfully sorry..."

Molly bent down and handed the fallen edition of "The Daily Prophet" to Hermione.

Hermione's eyes skimmed the headline, then fell upon the image of Harry smiling and waving, standing next to a woman with a black veil covering her face.

A tortured sob escaped her mouth as she crumpled to the floor in a heartbroken heap.

The wizarding newspaper and the bad news it delivered floated to the floor a bit away.

" 'I've never felt this way about anyone in my entire life.' Harry Potter to Marry Foreign Magical Princess!"


	8. The Job

It's been far too long.

I am sorry.

I am a lazy beast and have been working on a multichapter New Girl fic that I shouldn't have started when I'm still not done with this one.

But I can't help myself sometimes.

~justaclassicgirl

* * *

Molly had to comfort Hermione for a long while after the girl had read the article, and actually had to pull it out of Hermione's hands to keep her from scrutinizing every last detail of the text. She kept insisting that something wasn't right, that Harry would never do this, that he would never marry a foreign princess.

"Hermione, it's been 7 years. Things change. People change," Molly sighed as Hermione scribbled furiously on a piece of parchment, trying to work out what was really going on.

She looked up for a second, and Molly saw that her eyes were full of pain.

"Molly, you and I both know him so very well. You tell me, does this seem like the sort of thing he would do?"

"Well...no, but-"

"Exactly," Hermione said. "Something's not right, and I'm going to find out what it is."

* * *

Molly invited Hermione to stay at the Burrow until she got things figured out. Every morning, Hermione came down, ate breakfast, then went to her room or apparated to the nearest town's library to research. The same went for lunch and dinner, and Molly rarely saw her.

One day, Hermione marched into the dining room, holding a letter high in the air. A huge smile spread across her face.

"Molly, look! I got a job!"

Molly was just putting dinner on the table when Hermione came in. She wiped her hands on her apron and went over to hug Hermione. "Oh, Hermione, I'm so happy for you!"

They pulled apart.

"So, what is it?"

Hermione could barely contain her excitement. "I've been chosen as the personal assistant to the princess! The one who's to marry Harry!"

Molly's face fell.

"Hermione, dear, I don't think-"

"Oh, Molly, it's just PERFECT! Think of it! I can see him from afar and keep an eye on him, and I'll be able to discover all the princess's secrets! Oh, Molly, this is the break I've been WAITING for!"

Molly sighed. "I suppose nothing can stop you, can it?"

Hermione shook her head, still extremely excited.

"All right, but be careful, darling. Suppose he really does love her. Then what?"

"That won't happen," Hermione said assuredly. "Everything will be perfect."

* * *

For a week, Hermione prepared to leave. Molly insisted she take some of Ginny's old clothes, since she'd arrived with nothing but the ones on her back, and she had her wand and some of the books she'd pilfered from the Room of Requirement. Finally, she was standing before the cab, her bags loaded, ready to go. Molly gave Hermione a big hug and held her tightly. As Hermione turned to enter the cab, Molly said,

"Remember, Hermione, a lot can change in 7 years."

Hermione only nodded, then entered the cab.

* * *

Molly stood in her driveway as the cab drove off, further and further into the dust, until it was but a speck in the distance.

Then she turned and went back inside, wiping at the tears that trickled down her cheeks.


	9. Guess Who?

Mrrp!

Updating more frequently now.

~justaclassicgirl

* * *

Hermione drew in a deep breath. She was standing before the great gates of the castle in the England countryside where her letter of employment told her to go. She was to tell no one where she was headed. It was all very hush-hush.

The more she stared at the castle, the more she was sure something wasn't right. Harry would never want to live anywhere like this. It was too large, too grand.

She began to walk forward, approaching the huge metal doors. Finally, she reached up, grabbed the big metal knocker, and rammed it exactly three times into the door as the letter instructed. Then she stepped back and waited.

The doors swung open slowly. Hermione peered into the great entry-hall that met her. No one was there.

She stepped inside. "Hello?" she called, her voice echoing throughout the giant room. No answer came, but the doors swung shut behind her with a loud bang. She jumped, startled by the noise.

"Anyone here?" she tried again.

Just then, a startled-looking pageboy rushed into the hallway. "There you are! You must be Jean."

"Huh? Oh, yes, right. Jean, that's me."

(Hermione had to lie about her name, just as a precaution. She had no idea who this princess was, and honestly, she already didn't trust her as far as she could throw her.)

"Well, then, come with me. The princess's quarters are this way."

He started to walk away just as fast as he'd come. Hermione had to run to catch up with him.

"And...the quarters of Harry Potter?"

The pageboy opened his mouth to respond, but then seemed to think better of it. "I-I'm not permitted to disclose such information."

"I expected as much," she muttered under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing."

The young boy shook his head quickly, as if trying to shake a bug off of it. "Let's go, then."

They continued down many corridors and up flights of stairs until they finally reached a dark brown door made of what seemed to be ebony.

"Here we are," said the page. "Now, just knock and she'll be right with you." He turned to go.

"You're not going to stay, to make sure I don't wander off?" Hermione said questionably.

Fear flashed across the boy's face. "No, no. No."

Then he turned and ran.

"That was odd," Hermione thought. "What's he so scared of?"

She turned back to the door, and lifted her hand to knock. There was no one around, and the page was the only servant-like person around. Funny, she thought. One would think a foreign princess like her would have servants scurrying all about at her beck and call, 24/7.

She knocked.

The door swung open, almost as if someone had been waiting anxiously for her to knock.

Someone had.

And they stood before her now.

Hermione gasped. Her mouth dropped open, and her hands trembled with anger and despair.

"You."

* * *

CLIFFIE!

Don't worry, I've pretty much already typed up the next chapter, so I'll post it when I have some time.


	10. Dastardly Plan

SCHOOL'S OUT!

:D

More frequent updates are to be expected.

~justaclassicgirl

* * *

"Excuse me?" said the supposed princess haughtily. "Am I supposed to know you?"

Hermione inhaled deeply. So she didn't know who she was. Good. This actually made things a lot easier.

"Um. No. It's just…I've never met a real princess before!" she exclaimed, feigning enthusiasm.

The woman stepped closer, examining her face with extreme scrutiny. "Hmmm…" she muttered. "Certainly very beautiful… You'll do. Yes, you'll do just fine."

Hermione felt like laughing. If this woman only knew who she was, she'd be very embarrassed at what she'd just said.

"Er…excuse me, Miss, but what exactly am I to do for you?" she said meekly, trying to make herself seem as un-Hermione as possible. "I heard this was a maid sort of job."

"Ah…yes," the princess said slowly. "In a way, yes."

"In a way?" Hermione questioned.

She sighed, and began to walk across the room. Her emerald green silk dress rustled as she moved to her room's only window.

"Have a seat, girl," she replied, waving a hand at her bed behind her. Hermione moved quickly and sat at attention on the perfectly made bed.

"I have a plan," she began, drawing out every word very slowly, as if she were high. (On, like, marijuana. Heh.)

"Yes, Miss?" Hermione asked, hating the way the words sounded on her tongue. "What is your plan?"

"It has already begun, darling girl," said the princess, as if Hermione was a child and not a woman the same age as she. "Phase one has been completed, and you are now the crucial piece for phase two."

Hermione said nothing. This plan had clearly taking much thinking, and she was astonished that this woman before her would dare share it so freely with someone such as herself, even if she was but a maid in her eyes.

"Not once, in all the time I've been here, has he seen my face," she said, gazing wistfully out of the window. "Should he have seen my complete and utter…ugliness, he would have turned away in a moment."

"But, you're not ugly…Miss," said Hermione. The lie tasted like bile in her throat. She was also surprised that this girl would admit such a thing, when she had always been so self-assured in school.

"Even if I weren't," she sighed, as if she hadn't heard Hermione, "he has eyes for someone else."

"Who, Miss?" asked Hermione, not daring to believe it.

Here, the princess's fists clenched, and she quite began to shake with rage. "_Hermione Granger_."

It took Hermione a minute to compose herself and keep herself from crying of joy. "I haven't heard of her, Miss. But I'm sure she is nowhere as glorious as you," she lied.

"Oh, but she is, and that's the worst part," sighed the princess, and Hermione regretted ever so deeply not having a recording device on her. "She is so much more…_everything_ than I am. She always has been. Even when we were in school together."

"You were in school with her?" Hermione tried her best to fake astonishment.

The princess ignored her. "BUT NO MATTER!" she exclaimed, with a new fervor. "I got his attention."

"How, Miss?"

She sighed again, dodging the question. "Harry Potter. My, my, is he RICH! Not to mention FAMOUS! Oh, darling girl, the gold! The fame! The paparazzi!"

Hermione could have slapped her. Harry hated all that. He never asked for it.

"The only thing standing in my way was _her_. That Hermione Granger. Something had to be done."

"What did you do, Miss?" Hermione asked, barely able to keep herself from shaking with anger.

"She disappeared, thank goodness, after the Final Battle. I had long since moved on from my previous love, and I had my sights set on Harry. But he would NOT forget about her! So, I disguised myself in a veil so he would not recognize me, and my family backed me up. I went to him, and I told him that we had taken her, and if he did not marry me, we would kill her."

Hermione could barely form words. But she didn't really have to. The fraud princess continued talking without even turning around.

"We don't have her, OBVIOUSLY. But there's no way she'd ever show her face anywhere near here, especially after she believes he no longer loves her, since he is marrying MOI. The thing is, he has to not only marry me, but keep up the act and tell everyone I'm a princess. He IS doing that, so that part of the plan is going swimmingly. But he's just SO annoying! Always whining 'Don't hurt Mione, don't hurt Mione!' HONESTLY! But, once I've married him, I'll have equal access to all his money. And then, I won't need him to get it anymore."

Hermione could hardly believe her ears. "You're going to...to kill him?"

"I won't need him anymore," she repeated happily, twirling around to face Hermione, who flinched as she saw the face of the girl twist into a grotesque grin. "But I never said those specific words, now did I?"

"N-no, Miss, you didn't."

"Anyway, I need you because if he sees me...well, I need you to go in and marry him. As me. When he sees your beauty, when he flips the veil at the altar, he'll think you are me, and he won't hesitate to love me after. He'll forget her, and will willingly give me anything I desire, like his wealth. I just shan't take the veil off until I have gotten what I want from him," she finished.

"Then...why bring up Hermione Granger in the first place?" asked Hermione, disgusted by the plan (although she was secretly excited to be able to marry Harry!).

"I have to get him to the church somehow, don't I?" The grotesque smile was back.

Hermione tried releasing a small chuckle.

And then, the fraud tipped her head back and let out a loud witchy cackle, and Hermione knew she had to stop her dastardly plan somehow.

Hermione Granger had to stop Pansy Parkinson, before she killed the only person Hermione had every truly loved.

* * *

Um.

Sorry if that chapter was confusing.

In the fairytale, which it was modeled after, the main character takes a job as a maid in the ugly princess's castle, and the ugly princess basically just needs someone to go in her place to fool the prince into thinking she was beautiful. Simple as that.

But that wasn't very realistic for the Harry Potter world.

So I twisted it up, adding in that Pansy only wants Harry for his money, and will kill him after they are married. But the ugly thing still ties in a bit.

Any questions, don't hesitate to PM me, because I got turned around a couple times myself while writing it.

~justaclassicgirl


	11. Not-So-Dastadrly-Plan

To tell you guys the truth, my inspiration is wavering on this story. That's why the waits are so long between chapters.

Don't worry, I'm going to finish it, since there's only about 2 or 3 chapters left and I hate abandoning things, but I feel like this isn't my best work and it's not as much fun to write as it was in the beginning; it's really declined in quality.

Anyway, here's this chapter.

~justaclassicgirl

* * *

The days passed uneventfully. Hermione took care of all of Pansy's needs. She cooked for her, brushed her hair (which she'd allowed to grow out so that it was quite long), cleaned her room and other rooms in the castle, and generally did all the things a maid would be expecte to do. But there was not one moment of the day that she did not spend thinking about Harry or Pansy's plan to kill him after they were married.

She had a plan of her own, however. She would locate Harry in the castle, free him if he was being kept against his will, and leave the castle together, the both of them. Then life could return to normal back at home.

On the second day of her employment, Hermione asked Pansy if she was to take any food to Harry.

"Most certainly not!" exclaimed Pansy. "I don't trust anyone but me near my dear Harrykins."

Hermione wanted to throw up.

During all her free time, which wasn't much, Hermione was free to explore the castle. This gave her the opportunity to search it up and down for Harry, and she did so every chance she got.

Finally, the week of the wedding was upon them. Hermiome had not, unfortunately, discovered the whereabouts of Harry in the castle, and was beginning to fret. What if Pansy was torturing him mercilessly when Hermione wasn't tending to her? What if he was strung up in the darkest corner of the dungeons and had a silencing charm and Cruciatus curse placed on him?

Hermione shivered, sitting on the edge of the small bed in her maid's quarters, and then began to cry. Her plan would never work, and Pansy would kill Harry the day after the wedding and receive all his fame and riches.

The thought of Harry dead devastated Hermione so much that a fresh set of sobs overtook her again.

She cried herself to sleep that night, and every night after.

* * *

The night before the wedding, Pansy called Hermione to her chambers to fit her into her wedding gown. "We want to make you look as attractive as possible, so that he'll be fully devoted to me/you from the moment he lifts the veil."

It turned out that Pansy was a spectacular seamstress, and with a few tucks here and snips there, the beautiful gown was tailored to fit Hermione's body exactly.

Hermione had fallen in love with the dress the moment she first set eyes on it. It was so startlingly white and pure that it made her want to cry.

The dress itself was quite plain. It had a long skirt that puffed out like a ball gown, but to a slightly lesser extreme. The underskirt and bodice were made of what she assumed was the finest silk. It was creamy and soft on her skin, and it felt like she was putting on a gown of water. A few baby pearls adorned the bust, and tiny sparkles came from within the fabric of the skirt when she moved, which she realized were small diamonds sewn into the fabric.

"I...I feel like a princess!" Hermione whispered, in awe of the beauty of the clothing.

"Good, because you're supposed to be one," Pansy said. "Now twirl."

Hermione did so giddily, taking great pleasure in seeing the diamonds twinkle and shine and make her look all the more magical.

Pansy nodded her approval. "You look simply gorgeous," she remarked, a ghost of a smile on her lips. The irony of this made the moment all the sweeter to Hermione, and she giggled and twirled even faster. It was wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, that she almost forgot all her anxiety about Harry.

Finally, when she retired to her Maid's quarters, the dress floating behind her by the means of a simple spell so as not to touch the floor, Hermione collapsed on her bed.

The wedding was tomorrow. She would marry her one true love tomorrow.

And yet, because of everything that was happening, Hermione couldn't tell if she was ecstatic or terrified.


	12. Update!

Hello. This is not a chapter, rather an update to let you know of the changes I am making to this story.

I really am not a fan of the plan I had Pansy make. It's far too confusing.

So this story is going to get a makeover!

I'm changing that chapter entirely, and the one after that a little as well. Pansy will have a much simpler plan, and it'll make the story easier to write for me as well.

No worries, though, the rest of the story will remain the same.

It will take me a little while to draft the new chapters, so it'll be a long time until an actual NEW new chapter is posted.

I'm sorry to those who liked it as it was, but it was just too much for me and I really did not like it. I hate publishing things I am unhappy with, and I was so dreadfully unhappy with that one chapter. Think of it this way: If I don't do this, the likelihood of me abandoning the story is really high.

So there's THAT.

Bye guys!

~justaclassicgirl


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